Setups › Trend template

Trend template

From Minervini. In one line: passes all 8 up-trend checks and beats 70%+ of stocks.

About the names. The famous names are credit for publicly described ideas. Every test here uses our own simplified, fully coded version of the idea, so the numbers show how our code behaved on past prices, not how the named person trades or traded. No affiliation with, or endorsement by, any named person.

35,968

trades tested

38%

win rate

-0.12R

average result

-0.52%

vs Nifty per trade

What it looks like

Mark Minervini's trend template is not a pattern on one day: it is a checklist a stock must pass before he looks at it at all. It describes a stock in a healthy, established up-trend that is beating most of the market.

Why traders use it

Minervini found that almost all big winners passed these checks before their largest moves. Using it as a filter removes stocks in down-trends or dead sideways ranges, where most losses come from.

The exact rule we tested

All 8 must be true:

Price above the 150-day and the 200-day average.
The 150-day average above the 200-day.
The 200-day average rising for at least a month.
The 50-day average above the 150-day.
Price above the 50-day average.
Price at least 30% above its 52-week low.
Price within 25% of its 52-week high.
Relative strength in the top 30% of all stocks.

Mistakes to avoid

Treating it as a buy signal. It is a filter: Minervini still waits for a proper entry such as a VCP.
Buying when the stock is stretched. A stock can pass all 8 checks and still be 30% above its 50-day average.
In the November 2026 backtest, an IBD-style 12-month relative strength did slightly better than our 3-month version; see the backtest page.

How we tested it

Every day from 05 Nov 2024 to 05 Nov 2026, every main-board NSE stock (price ≥ ₹50, turnover ≥ ₹5 crore a day) that showed this setup was bought the next day above its last high, with a stop 1.5 ATR below and a target 2.5 ATR above, and sold after 10 trading days if neither was hit; 0.1% costs per trade. Traders usually hold this setup 5-10 days.

The maths behind the result

Average winner +1.14R, average loser −0.91R, win rate 38%. Expectancy = 38% × 1.14 − 62% × 0.91 = -0.12R per trade. To break even with this payoff you need to win at least 44% of trades. How expectancy works.

A historical simulation, not live trading and not a recommendation.